


The Promise

by captainlandwhaleamerica



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Declaration of Love, Episode: s07e20 Inauguration, Fluff, Missing Scene, Season/Series 07, well sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 02:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10453293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainlandwhaleamerica/pseuds/captainlandwhaleamerica
Summary: The scene that that was tragically missing from the Santos Inauguration, just a little bit of cadence and a look to the future for our very favorite Washington power couple. Some whiny Josh, bossy Donna, playful flirting and a moment of clarity (which doesn't happen all that often for Mr. Lyman).





	

Why inaugurations were perpetually held in one of the coldest months of the year, Josh Lyman had no clue. The founding fathers of his country got a lot of things right—checks and balances, separation of powers—but designating an arduous, prolonged and pompous ceremony to be held outdoors every four years? It was either a cruel joke or a secret plan to fight overpopulation. 

Another gust of brittle wind sliced through the attendees, prompting Josh to stuff his gloved hands further into the deep pockets of his overcoat and slouch into his collar in an attempt to stop the cold from hitting bare skin. Just as the chill became a little tolerable, however, he felt a sharp elbow in his side. 

“Sit up,” Donna hissed, “and maybe try to act your age?” 

“It’s freezing,” he grumbled, but complied with her order, “How long have we sat here anyway?” 

“Half an hour”

“And how long is the ceremony?” 

“Three hours” 

He groaned in defeat, which was apparently unacceptable to Donna, who elbowed him again. Harder. He shoved her back lightly with his shoulder, reveling in the wide grin that spread across her face. He thought about how many times he’d seen her smile, in so many different circumstances, moments in time that seemed infinite and yet each so precious and memorable. That smile, he swore it could end wars. And in the cacophony and chaos of his mind, it often had. He found himself resisting an urge to reach over and tickle her senseless for the sole purpose of seeing that grin spread across her face again. 

They had returned from their vacation about three weeks prior, and Josh weirdly missed the sand and the sun and the funny drinks with the umbrellas and the absence of the constant vibration of his Blackberry. The dreaded thing was switched on silent now, but the minute the ceremony was over he knew it wasn’t likely to shut up for the next four years. 

He groaned at the thought. Four more years. Not that the back and forth battles of politics didn’t fill his belly with a bizarre kind of fire, but it was also a bit like a prison sentence. Though prisons usually didn’t have navy suits, inauguration balls, the secret service or the Oval Office. Or Donna. He looked at her sideways and realized he could really look at her now, without having to worry about being caught staring. Not that such consequences had stopped him before. 

Maybe she felt his gaze, maybe it was coincidence, but Donna reached over to take his hand. “It’s only two and a half more hours, Josh. You’ve sat through meetings, congressional hearings, debates, briefings. Why are you acting like this is the most sadistic form of torture?”

He couldn’t help it. He whined, “It’s cold, Donna!” 

She sighed and faced him, “You hold high office of the United States and have done so for the past decade. You oversee many talented individuals. You ran a little known Congressman against two vice presidents and won. You have the trust of the former and next president, both of whom stand not two hundred feet in front of us. Yet, with all these illustrious qualities, your base state of personality is that of a petulant five-year-old child!” 

“I’m really quite something,” He answered, grinning impishly in that way he knew she couldn’t stand. She made an annoyed sound and looked away, but a hint of a smile hid at the edge of her mouth. 

“You really are” she answered, more to herself than him. 

“What was that? I don’t think I heard you recognize my absolute illustriousness” 

“Don’t make me say it again” 

“Okay”

“Because I won’t,” She faced front again, eyes fixed on the speaker, but their gloved hands stayed interlocked, “Now, can we please focus?”

“Okay,” he said again, not looking away from her. It struck him how little had changed between them since Election Day. Apart from the obvious modifications, the relationship was much the same. Conversations that were always more like debates, her relentless pursuit of his best character, his constant half-admiration, half-fear of her, her maturity, his ignorance and their seamless teamwork. It was all still there, mingled within the (slightly) longer touches and looks. And the shared bed, of course. 

The Secretary of Commerce or someone was prattling on about the future when something clicked in him. It was one of those thoughts that hovered in the back of his mind and perpetually bothered him, but he always had more pressing, world altering, potentially cataclysmic things to worry about. So these kind of thoughts just hung around, growing bigger and bigger, until they pushed past all the logical and important things that he should be concerned about until that one damned thing occupied his entire mind space. All the chaos of the transition had shadowed over this thought that he kept having. It had happened during his interview with Lou and then again in California with Sam and yet again in the residence with President Bartlet after Leo’s memorial. And then just now, hitting him like a freight train right in the middle of the Secretary of Whatever’s speech. 

“Hey,” he tugged her closer to him, demanding her attention. 

“Josh, I swear to God if you’re about to— “ 

“Donna, look at me,” It was more of a plea than a demand. He felt his entire body spark when her questioning eyes met his aching ones, “I need to say something. I needed to say this yesterday or in Germany or really any moment in the last five years but I didn’t and since there’s no time like the present…” He trailed off, struggling to find a place to begin.

“Josh, what is it?” He grabbed her other hand so she was facing him directly. 

“I loved Leo”

“We all did— “ 

“Donna, I’m not reminiscing right now. I need to put this—this—thing that’s been bouncing around my head into some form of words. I need to say it,” She nodded, knowing him well enough to understand that silence was necessary from this point onwards.

“I loved Leo and I looked up to him so much. But I don’t want to be him,” He paused, reconsidering. “That’s not entirely true. If I could have half of his level-headed thinking or military stratagems, I would be lucky. But I don’t want to be him in terms of the future. We both know how much this job sucks out of a personal life. This job, it destroyed Leo’s marriage. It destroyed his relationship and maybe his chance at happiness outside of the White House. A future that didn’t involve policy meetings and late nights and the weight of the world on our very shoulders.” 

He took a deep breath and went on, “For ten years, I’ve let this job take precedence over everything. Over sleep, over sanity, over friends, family, a chance at happiness. And while these next four years will be the most important thing we’ll ever do—I want to have a life. With…you. I want to do this crazy, impossible thing together. And by together I mean I want you to drag me away from my desk back to our place when I haven’t been home in four days and I want you to fight with me when I’m wrong. I want you to bother me about forgetting an anniversary or birthday and I want you to refuse to let me shake you off when I’m being arrogant. I want to brainstorm policy at two in the morning in bed and over coffee and in those two minutes where our paths happen to cross in a hallway. I want you to keep seeing right through me and my political ambitions and show me the right thing to do. I want you to be my partner, just like you’ve always been, and I need you to keep reminding me what we’re here for. I need you to promise me, Donna. Can you do that?” 

Though he spoke in low whispers, all he wanted was to leap up onto the stage and proclaim it to the world. Josh was a born proclaimer, after all. 

But then again, from this close, he could see the joyful look on her face and his own earnest eyes reflected in hers. It felt a little weird to say that much all in a row, especially after so much of their relationship was in tiny actions, fragments of sentences, seconds of eye contact that may as well have been years spread out over time. He hoped she could see past the slightly selfish, terribly disjointed words (it was no Ziegler/Seaborn speech after all), to what he truly meant. Then he remembered that of course she would, because she was Donna. 

Silence hung in the frigid air between them as they simply sat there, the speech mere background noise. Josh felt the pause keenly, but for the first time in what felt like an age, he didn’t feel impatient. He just waited. 

And then Donna smiled. 

“I promise”


End file.
